Five Life Hacks To Improve Efficiency At Work

15 Dec Five Life Hacks To Improve Efficiency At Work

How To Improve Efficiency At Work

Improve efficiency at work with these five life hacks. Changing a few habits really can make a huge difference for your work flow. According to CNN Money, the average worker only spends 54% of their day on primary job duties and productive meetings. 54%?! Where is the other half?! CNN Money says 26% of it goes to responding to emails and other administrative duties, while 20% can be attributed to interruptions and wasteful meetings.

54%?!

There has to be a better way. You have an never-ending list of things to do, but you find yourself getting distracted at work. It happens to the best of us, especially when there are many interruptions throughout the day. While many people feel it is a consistent problem with no real solution, there really are some life hacks you can start using to make your dream of higher efficiency a reality. Here are some ways you can bump up that 54% and get more done.

1. Listen to instrumental music.

You’ve probably heard of the Mozart Effect (listening to classical music helps improve academic performance), but that isn’t exactly what we are talking about here. If you have your favorite band singing in the background, you could be more distracted by the words than you realize. If you are reading or writing for your work, try sticking to instrumental so your brain doesn’t get distracted. Find some movie music or a popular soundtrack to listen to instead.

2. Leave at a specific time.

If you don’t have a specific time you are leaving, try setting one to see if it improves your drive to work. By leaving at a specific time, you create a self-imposed deadline for current projects. You can set goals that feel more urgent, leading to higher productivity.

3. Close your office door.

Socializing with coworkers is good to a certain extent, but it can interrupt your workflow more than you may imagine. CNN Money says that when an employee is interrupted, it takes them 23 minutes to reorient themselves. Assuming an employee is only interrupted once in the work day, that is already 5% of your day… gone. Now, guess the number of interruptions you have to your day. No wonder interruptions can be so detrimental to your work flow. To combat unnecessary interruptions, make yourself unavailable by closing your office door.

4. Focus on one project at a time.

Studies from the University of California indicate that the average employee shifts their focus between projects every 10.5 minutes. The same study showed that they were interrupted over the course of more than 50% of those 10.5 minute segments. You do the math… that’s a highly inefficient work day. Instead of switching from project to project, take a chunk of time and finish one large project.

5. Don’t leave your inbox open.

Here’s that 26%, according to CNN money. Who needs to spend that much time responding to emails? Instead of leaving your inbox open constantly, set a few times throughout the day to check your mail. When you do set a meeting with your inbox, be sure to specify an end time. If you only give yourself a half hour twice a day, you are already decreasing your time spent daily on email to 12.5%… and you may not even need that!

It IS possible to improve efficiency at work.

There are so many ways to help improve efficiency at work. You can do it! Start making the change today to get more from your work day. Get more done, starting right now.

Carolyn Byard

Carolyn is Iconic's art director and office dog handler. She strives to build unicorns, and she is completely obsessed with the fusion of beautiful design with strong strategy for unforgettable user interfaces.